


Knots

by Jak_the_ATAT



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean Winchester - Freeform, Gen, Girly Sam, Hair, OOC but who cares, Sam Winchester - Freeform, Sam Winchester Has Braided Hair, Sam likes nail polish, braiding, chick flick moments, chill Dean, girly Dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 19:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19911208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jak_the_ATAT/pseuds/Jak_the_ATAT
Summary: Sam sees Dean braiding ropes. And it encourages him to try and braid his own hair. Except he might need a little help...





	Knots

**Author's Note:**

> Ended up deciding to make a collection of Sam and Dean doing things considered girly.

Sam has always been a little girlier than acceptable for the average American male. And sometimes it made him extremely self-conscious but other times he loved it. Thankfully, Dean didn't mind, but rather rolled along with it. He sometimes gave Sam hair trinkets and complimented Sam's nail polish (or he teased him, but in that dumb sibling way that wasn't meant to harm). And even though Sam could still act like the manly soldier their Dad conditioned him to be during hunts, both brothers agreed they liked the more feminine Sam better. It just... fit Sam better, to put it lightly.

Right now, Sam was painting his nails a dark shade of green. And it wasn't pleasing him. The fluorescent light in the store was very misleading. He thought the colour looked great when he went to buy it, but under the more yellow-orange motel room light, Sam didn't like it.

Sam sighed and stopped when one hand was finished. Yeah, something was off about it. Too dark for him. He knew Dean would tell him that it looked fine, but Sam still ended up walking outside to ask for Dean's approval.

He found Dean sitting next to Baby next to a pile of ropes. Dean wasn't even looking at him and yet he spoke before Sam could. "Sammy, why do we always buy the cheapest ropes?"

"I... don't know..?"

"I mean, look at this!" Dean shoved his hand into the rope pile and grabbed a handful to lift up and show off the mess of thin, fraying ropes. "This was once a nice bundle of braided ropes which I bought last week and now it's this!" He sighed and loosened three intact strands from the pile. "Next time, I'm buying the expensive stuff." Dean knotted the top of the three sections before his eyes landed on Sam's hands. "Nice nails. One-handed?"

Sam looked at his hand. "I don't think the colour looks good on me. What do you think?"

"I think it looks good, but you know my colour perception is shit. You said that's canopy forest green or something. I still see it as plain old green."

In the natural light, the nails didn't look terrible. Perhaps it was the lighting that was throwing Sam off. Regardless, he kinda wished he chose the lighter green.

He suddenly noticed Dean was braiding the ropes back together. "You know how to braid?"

Dean nodded, his eyes never leaving his work. "Yep. This will make the ropes nice and strong until I can get new ones. And not the cheap kind."

Sam didn't care about rope strength. He was more curious about Dean's dexterity. The way Dean's hands nimbly navigated the rope, twisting it and passing it about in a complex pattern. And somehow he made the rope tight and professional looking, almost exactly like how rope braiding machines originally made them. Dean Winchester was rivalling a god damned machine by hand.

"Can I try?" The words were out before Sam could stop himself.

Dean nodded and paused his work to look up at Sam. "Ever braided before?"

"No."

"Alright, hang on." Dean set his work aside and pulled out three more sections from the frayed rope pile, which he knotted at the top. He handed it to Sam. "Alright, so spread the three sections apart. Nice. Now just pass the left one over the middle. yep, now do the same with the right one. Move your hand to the left one, the old middle one, and pass it over—that's it! Now right—good! Keep doing that until you get to the end. And try and pull it tight." Dean went back to separating rope strands and braiding them back together.

Sam sat down next to Dean against the car and fumbled away. "When did you learn to braid?"

"A few of my girlfriends showed me. They wanted me to do their hair. But I'm terrible at anything more complicated than this simple braid." He suddenly began laughing. "Wish you had been there the first time I tried braiding. I knotted this girl's hair really badly, and she dumped me so fast I don't think anyone's beat her dump record."

Sam found himself slightly jealous. Dean knew how to braid. The guy didn't even have hair! Or, at least, enough to braid with. How come none of his girlfriends asked him to braid their hair?

Stuffing away his envy, Sam continued to work on the piece, trying to copy Dean's handiwork. The ropes wouldn't cooperate. Every time he moved his hand away from one rope, it came loose. And he groaned when he realized just how crappy it looked compared to Dean's.

Even Dean agreed when he glanced over to check on Sam. "Ooh... You know what? Maybe start again? Otherwise, I'll get some ribbon because that's nice and easy to learn with."

Sam undid his work and tried again. Two minutes later, he was working with ribbon (why Dean had ribbon on hand, Sam didn't know). Sometimes Dean gave tips in hopes it would help. Instead, it made things even harder. And when Sam finished for the first time, the ribbon braid wasn't straight and it wasn't smooth. Sighing, Sam unravelled it. He kept working at it, braiding and unbraiding the ribbon, until nighttime rolled around and Dean pulled the ribbon away and told Sam to sleep.

The next morning, while Dean was still snoring away, Sam wondered if it was easier to braid his own hair. Running his fingers through his hair to untangle any morning snarls, he tried to braid his hair in front of the bathroom mirror. Apparently, it was even harder than just the simple ribbon. Not only did he fail to braid it, but he made a giant mess in his hair. And suddenly Sam had a knot for hair.

Dean entered the bathroom, his eyes widening slightly when he found Sam in there. "What the hell happened to you?"

Sam bit his lip. "Nothing..."

"Rat's nest?"

"What? No? I don't have rats."

"It's a term for... exactly what you have."

"How do you know that?"

"A girlfriend. Same one whose hair I fucked up."

Shaking his head lightly, Sam turned his attention back to pulling at his hair. Stupid. Knot. Wouldn't. Come. Out.

"Hey hey hey," Dean suddenly said, taking Sam's wrists and unlacing Sam's fingers from the mess. "Don't break your hair. Stay here and I'll help you fix it in a minute." With that, Dean left the room.

He returned fifteen minutes later with food, a hairbrush, and a small pack of pastel-coloured hair ties. "Sit down and eat. I'll do your hair." Sam did so, letting Dean tug away at his hair with the brush. He expected Dean to put him through hair pulling torture. Instead, Dean did everything he could to make sure he didn't pull too roughly at Sam's locks. Even when he held a section of hair to hack away at the knot while he swore under his breath, Dean knew how to keep Sam free of pain. "Now I understand why Ally was so upset with me," Dean grunted.

It took a while but eventually Dean got every snarl out. By then, Sam had finished his food and was twirling the hair ties into rings to slip on and off his fingers. Dean began braiding the hair, his fingers brushing against Sam's scalp now and then, collecting any straggling strands. Sam hummed contently. He liked the way Dean's hands tickled the hairs along the back of his neck. He enjoyed the tight pull behind his ears. Most of all, he was pleased at the idea of Dean braiding his hair. Even if it came out horrible, Sam didn't care. It's the thought that counts.

Dean finally paused and held a hand over Sam's shoulder, the other hand still pulling at Sam's hair. "Hand me one of those hair ties." Sam gave him a light purple one. A few tugs later, Dean pulled his hands away.

Sam ran his fingers over the braid. It started close to the top of his head and ran down until it was just a little past the base of his neck. Did he really have that much hair?

What marvelled him the most was how tight and straight it was. The braid was smooth. Not a single stand was misplaced. It felt so professional. Just like that rope.

"Move your hand. I'll take a picture so you can see," Dean said. Sam obeyed and he heard the phone camera snap. Then Dean handed his phone to Sam.

What he saw was a beautiful braid in the back. Not the kind Dean was doing with the ropes. This was more elegant, more stylistic, and certainly more complicated. "Dean... wow... it's beautiful!"

"French braid, Sammy," Dean said proudly. "That's what it's called."

So Dean was colour obtuse but knew his braids? Sam latched onto Dean's bragging to question farther. "Do you know a lot of braids?"

Dean must have realized his slip-up because he began blinking a little too quickly, something he did when he was flustered. "Just a few."

"Dean, I'm not judging. You can tell me."

The older Winchester bit his lower lip as he thought about his answer. "Okay, yeah. I like braiding, alright? It's calming to me. Why do you think I have the ribbon? Got really good at it while you were at Stanford. Especially braiding shorter hair." Dean groaned and rubbed his chin. "I sound like a complete chick straight from a flick, don't I?"

Sam held up his one painted hand. "Well, you're not alone." He got a nervous chuckle out of his brother, who was drowning away in embarrassment. Which didn't settle well with Sam. Dean shouldn't feel ashamed for liking something a little more feminine. So what if they were tough hunters? They deserved a chance to be more docile and domestic, even chick-ish.

A bright idea suddenly struck him, one that may help Dean overcome his fear of losing his masculine image. "Dean, any chance you could do my hair every day? I'd like to see what you know."

Dean's eyes lit up in a way Sam had never seen before. "You mean it?"

Sam nodded, smiling. "You got the skills, so might as use them. Think you can do that?"

His brother gave Sam a giant grin, one that told Sam he made the right decision. "Hell yeah, I can do that!"

And the next morning, as Sam changed the colour of his nails to a lighter green, Dean sat behind him and braided Sam's hair into two little Dutch ponytails, tying them off with the ribbon.

**Author's Note:**

> Please drop a kudos and/or comment!


End file.
